Mrs. D’Amico engages students in the classes she teaches: Digital Communication and Video Production. She started as a filming teacher because she saw the profession as a way to teach students to communicate with confidence.

Mrs. D’Amico grew up in the City of Wickliffe. She went to Lincoln Elementary School and Wickliffe Middle School. After graduating from Wickliffe High School, she attended Bowling Green State University because it had a great education program and because her friend Mrs. Hannan, another teacher at Mayfield Middle School, went there as well.

Mrs. D’Amico graduated with a teaching degree in business and vocational education, and a Master’s in guidance and counseling. She decided to pursue being a teacher, something she’d dreamt of since childhood.

As most teachers do, Mrs. D’Amico has thought about retirement, but she says it is something she is not ready for right now.

During her many years of teaching, technology has changed a lot. In her first year of teaching, she taught a ninth-grade typing class on typewriters. Now, starting in the second grade, typing is taught on computers.

Mrs. D’Amico likes that technology helps her create lessons, it is self- paced, and it can adapt to meet the needs of all students. However, she believes technology, specifically social media, is negatively impacting kids’ self esteem and normal brain function.

She also thinks that technology will change even more in the next few years. She envisions the growing popularity of virtual reality–that people will have the ability to experience places and adventures that aren’t possible without it. It will provide people with experiences that can change the way they think about the world.

Behind the Scenes

Mrs. D’Amico met her husband Tony at Bowling Green State University. She later married him in Little Italy in Cleveland over thirty years ago. Tony sells corrugated boxes for a living. They have two children, Anthony and Danielle.  Her daughter teaches sixth grade at Mayfield Middle School as well.

Outside of school Mrs. D’Amico likes to travel, spend time with family, and play card games and other board games.  Mrs. D’Amico has traveled to a lot of places–sometimes with long-time friend and co-worker Mrs. Hannan, sometimes with her family, and sometimes with friends or other teachers. Different places she’s been to so far include Australia, Greece, Italy, Austria, France, Germany, Alaska, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Aruba, the Grand Canyon, and the Bahamas. “I work to travel,” she explained.

Her favorite color is any shades of blue, and her favorite childhood memory is going camping with her family and finding a bat in their tent flying above her head.

What inspires Mrs. D’Amico the most is the fact that her father passed away when she was only eleven years old and she learned to make everyday count.

In her life so far, she hopes she has made at least one person feel good every day.  She hopes she can either improve someone’s day in a small way or have an impact. “I love my job, my students, and the people I work with. They impact on me in a positive way everyday, and I hope I do the same for them.”